deadhead

UK: /ˈdɛdhɛd/ US: (ded′hed′)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

dead•head  (ded′hed′), [Informal.]
n. 

1. a person who attends a performance, sports event, etc., or travels on a train, airplane, etc., without having paid for a ticket, esp. a person using a complimentary ticket or free pass.
2. Rail Transport a train, railroad car, airplane, truck, or other commercial vehicle while operating empty, as when returning to a terminal.
3. a stupid or boring person;
   dullard.
4. Metallurgy excess metal in the riser of a mold.
5. a sunken or partially sunken log.

v.t. 

6. to transport (someone) as a deadhead.
7. Rail Transport, Transport to move (an empty commercial vehicle) along a route.
8. Botany [Hort.] to remove faded blooms from (ornamental plants), esp. in flower gardens, often to help continued blooming.

v.i. 

9. to act or serve as a deadhead.
10. Rail Transport, Transport (of a commercial vehicle) to travel without cargo or paying passengers:
    The train carried coal to Pittsburgh and then deadheaded back to Virginia to pick up another load.

• dead + head 1570–80

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

deadhead / ˈdɛdˌhɛd/ noun

1. a dull unenterprising person
2. a person who uses a free ticket, as for a train, the theatre, etc
3. a train, etc, travelling empty
4. a totally or partially submerged log floating in a lake, etc

verb

1. (transitive) to cut off withered flowers from (a plant)
2. (intransitive) to drive an empty bus, train, etc